Unrest in the Mid-East
Because Wordpress.com does not allow flash, I am using this site to post code that has flash in order to get out (what I consider to be) important information. The weird box above is a player created through a cooperation between twitter and Google. It's called Speak2Tweet. I got this information from a reputable web site called Feedjit. It's from the most recent release (#55). Here is some information that I gleaned.
"It’s already live and anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet."
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| Angry Palestinian |
What a mess!
I stand with the people of Egypt and Tunisia, which has already toppled its repressive government. My fear is that radical organizations will seize power, such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. We should remember that the Bolsheviks were a minority group when they took over Russia, but they were very well organized and very aggressive. The same can be said about the Nazis in Germany a generation later.
The majority of the people in the Arab world are moderates whether you are talking about politics or religion. They must present a united front to their fellow citizens and also to the world. Hezbollah, al Queda, et al are the bad apples that try to spoil the entire barrel. It is up to the Wester World community to embrace the moderates of these countries.
Both the moderates and radicals of these countries have every reason to detest the U.S.A. We've supported Mubarak in Egypt and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia for decades, along with a host of other repressive governments across the region. Without our support, these military dictatorships would have fallen by the way-side a long time ago. Then there is the Palestinian/Israeli conflict to consider. The vast majority of Arab Muslims want displaced Palestinians to have their stolen land back. In polite company it's called the right of return. What it really means is that they just want to be allowed back into Israel- to work and participate in a parliamentary democracy. That would give Arabs a majority in a country that was carved out for Jews. Don't get me wrong. I am a Zionist and I believe in the state of Israel, but I am not a fan of their last few governments that have pursued a suicidal course, building settlements on the West Bank (inexcusable) for instance. Once again, the U.S.A. must step forward and link our foreign aid to Israel with its human rights record.
Hypocrisy
We chastise China for the same behavior that Israel exhibits. Israel occupies the West Bank (and other smaller territories). China occupies Tibet. Israel's Supreme Court allows torture if lives are in imminent danger. China tortures dissidents who question the supremacy of the Communist Party. China participates in provocative military exercises in disputed territories. Kibbutzers are allowed to carry weapons about brazenly. If Israel wants to keep its only ally in the neighborhood, then it better consider some changes to its policies regarding Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world. When the King of Saudi Arabia proposed a peace deal nine years ago, it sounded fairly reasonable, but Israel rejected it out of hand, instead of using it as a starting point for negotiations.
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| Wants to wipe Israel off the map |
Madmen and Mullahs
There's a problem with Ahmadinejad. He's insane. He wants to turn Iran into a nuclear-armed state. He's already vowed to "wipe Isreal off the map." Also, it wasn't the German or Austrian people who constructed the concentration camps that killed gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally retarded as well as Jews. It was a political party that was following an ideology that was based on racial/ethnic hatred. It's no secret that the current president of Iran (who was voted out by the people, but re-installed my the mullahs) is a big fan of Hitler. It's time for the people of Iran to return to the streets and bring down the government of religious fanatics whose policies have no basis on reality and maintain their power by terrorizing the people they are supposed to protect. Iran maintains a strong security apparatus, so it will be much more difficult to topple. They are despised by the majority of the people; however, so it stands to reason that they will fall eventually. But when? Those Il Jong's are still running North Korea, and that's been 60 years of intense repression.
